The Preacher’s Daughter
by blainersglee
Summary: Hanna Marin lived the perfect life with her father being the preacher of Rosewood Church of Christ. Caleb Rivers’ life was the exact opposite. When Caleb moves in next door to the preacher’s daughter with his new foster family, it’s only right they teach each other valuable lessons they didn’t expect to learn. [haleb with ezria and spoby]
1. prologue

**_haleb is my guilty pleasure._**

 ** _extended summary;_**

 ** _Hanna Marin had the life any girl could want. She lived in the best part of town, sipped lemonade every Sunday after church in her backyard with her friends, everyone loved her, and her father was the preacher at Rosewood Church of Christ. There was nothing in her way and she lived her life one day at a time._**

 ** _Caleb Rivers was in and out of foster care services with little to no respect for anything or anyone. His entire life had been nothing but verbal and emotional abuse. He had simply grown up on the wrong side of the tracks._**

 ** _When Caleb moves in right next door to the Marins, he meets the bubbly and bright Hanna. They have nothing to do with each other at first, but nothing lasts forever and nothing stays the same._**

 ** _this will be a short story but with long chapters. maybe 7-10 chapters with 6-8k words a piece plus this prologue with only half the amount of normal word count. we'll see. fair warning; emison doesn't come in until later chapters near the main end._**

 ** _this story will contain christianity and a bit of bashing towards god that may trigger some. read at your own risk._**

 ** _disclaimer; i do not own pretty little liars or any of the characters._**

 ** _i have not spellchecked so please overlook any mistakes autocorrect made._**

 ** _PROLOGUE ; 3,272 words_**

It was a sunny, hot September day in Rosewood, Pennsylvania which was rare considering it was usually cloudy or pouring the rain. Everything had been seemingly perfect since Alison DiLaurentis' disappearance had been solved a few months ago.

Rosewood wasn't the typical place for crime as it was located an hour away from Philadelphia and rarely known by anyone. But, last year, Alison DiLaurentis went missing Labor Day weekend. Her friends didn't see her leave and no one knew what had happened.

After six months of searching, Alison was found at the Canadian border. She had been kidnapped and living in different RV's and thrown around by different men in a business that picked up teenage girls pretending to be public transportation.

Alison was safely rescued, brought back to Rosewood, the men were locked up, the "business" was shut down, and the entire town threw a party in her honor with Pastor Marin hosting it.

Tom Marin owned Rosewood Church of Christ and was also the pastor. Everyone in the town of Rosewood adored him and his family. They thought the world of him while Tom thought the world of his town and the life he'd built for himself.

Tom was married to Ashley Marin and they had a daughter. The family lived in the middle of the neighborhood where the grass was always greener and a white picket fence was the only thing that separated the neighbors.

The neighborhood was a place that everyone felt safe enough at to sleep with their doors unlocked. Family portraits would hang above the fireplace in the two story homes while homemade stockings would hang there during Christmas.

It truly was picture perfect.

Ashley Marin sat a plate of cookies with a pitcher of ice cold lemonade down on the white table along with five glasses. She shot a smile to the girls sitting around. "Anything else?"

"No, but thank you, Mom."

Ashley smiled and retreated back inside, sliding the glass door on the side of the house open and stepping in.

After Ashley had went back inside, Alison DiLaurentis grabbed the pitcher of lemonade and poured some in every glass.

"Thank you, Ali," Emily Fields said with a grateful smile.

Alison shot the smile back. "Of course, Em."

After every girl had their glasses filled with lemonade, Alison cleared her throat. "A toast to happiness and Hanna's mom's amazing cookies and lemonade."

All the girls laughed before clinking their glasses together and taking a sip.

Hanna Marin slid her sunglasses back down onto her nose as she leaned back and stretched her legs out on the white reclining lawn chair. She held her cold glass in one hand while the other came behind her head to use as a pillow.

She cherished these times with her friends as they had just entered their senior year at Rosewood High School. It was their tradition every Sunday to come drink lemonade and hang out at Hanna's house after they had all attended church.

It was crazy for any of the girls to think that their time together was limited and in eight to nine months, they'd be on their own ways getting ready to separate and go off to college.

When Alison disappeared, it brought the four girls closer together than ever. They would come up with conspiracy theories about what had happened to their friend and sometimes they would date themselves so much that they'd have to stay with each other just so they could get some sleep.

"How's Ben?" Spencer Hastings teased.

"He's the same as usual." Emily rolled her eyes with a playful smile. "How's Toby?"

Spencer blushed. "He's just a friend."

"I don't think friends start coming to church for the sole reason to see you, Spence," Ali said.

Ben Coogan was Emily's boyfriend. He was a laidback and an overall chill guy. Ben was in with the popular crowd at school, but so were the girls so it didn't really matter.

Toby Cavanaugh was Spencer's "friend" who had been to church every Sunday since he met Spencer just so he could see her which Spencer denied wasn't true, but obviously was.

"Well," Aria Montgomery drawled, "I think the real question would be how is Sean?"

Sean Ackard was the son of Hanna's dad's best friend and fellow pastor at another church right out of Rosewood. Tom had desperately tried to set Hanna up with Sean, but it didn't work as Sean wasn't the pretty church boy he seemed to be.

In a perfect world, the preacher's daughter and the preacher's son would be together, but it wasn't a perfect world and the one time she did try to go out with Sean, it was a disaster.

Hanna's parents were strict. They barely let her go anywhere unless they knew where she was going, who was going to be there, if alcohol or drugs would be involved, what time she'd leave, what time she'd get back; you get the picture.

It was to Hanna's surprise when her parents sat her down to tell her she was allowed to go out into Philadelphia with Pastor Ackard's son as long as she wanted to and she was back by midnight.

Seeing the chance to get out into Philly, one of her favorite places, she said she would go. Ashley and Tom were ecstatic and called the Ackards to let them know Hanna was available.

Hanna wouldn't lie that Sean was an attractive guy. He was sweet and thoughtful, but there was just something about Sean that Hanna really didn't like. It might've been the way they had always gotten along in church no matter what. Hanna liked bickering from time to time as she said it kept the relationship from getting boring, but her and Sean basically seemed like the same person.

Sean picked Hanna up that night in his car and was dressed nicely. He didn't open the door for her, but nonetheless was still nice. Sean talked his head off as Hanna just smiled and nodded and threw in the occasional laugh.

They ate at a nice restaurant, had a decent time, but in the end, Hanna truly wasn't feeling it.

He walked her to the door at precisely ten twenty-six which was almost an hour and a half before her curfew. He tried to kiss her, but Hanna denied. She told him she had never kissed someone before and was saving it for something and someone special to which he laughed in her face and tried again.

She pushed him off again and told him she wasn't joking. He said neither was he and why was she such a prude. This was when Hanna slapped him right across the face and went inside, slamming the door and not telling her parents what had happened until a week later.

"That's not even funny," Hanna said viciously as the other girls laughed.

"Is your dad still determined for you to be with him?" Emily asked.

Hanna rolled her eyes. "Dad said he just made a mistake because the Ackards are some of the best people he's ever met and Mom says she hopes he falls into a hole for what he did."

"I don't mean to offend you, Han, I truly don't," Aria said, "but why are you saving your first kiss? I mean, I'm not technically saving mine. I just haven't found the right person. But, what about you?"

Hanna really didn't know why she was saving her first kiss to be completely honest. It may have been because she was scared because she had no idea how to kiss. It may have been because she had never interacted with the opposite gender apart from friendship. There were many reasons.

"I don't know," Hanna lied. "It's just not really something I fantasize about. It's germy."

"It's actually really nice," Emily said. "Ben is a great kisser."

Alison shared a smile with Emily. "I'm glad he's good, Em."

Just then, a big moving truck pulled up into the house next to Hanna's. All of the girls shared a look while raising their sunglasses.

"I thought Mrs. Cline wasn't moving out until-"

"-next month, yeah," Hanna interrupted, "I have no idea what's going on. Hold on a second."

She put her near empty glass on the table and stood up to straighten out her blue dress she wore to church. Hanna followed the cobblestone path until she went inside to find Ashley peering out the kitchen window.

"What's going on over there?" Hanna asked as she joined her mother.

Ashley shrugged her shoulders. "I have no idea to be completely honest. I knew there was someone who had already bought the house out, but I didn't know they were moving out already. Heather Cline said they her and the kids wouldn't be moving out until next month."

"That's what we all thought," said Emily.

Hanna turned to find all four girls standing behind her. They filled in open spots around Hanna and Ashley until they were comfortable enough to lean against the sink and cabinets to watch.

A woman with long, red curls appeared from around the other side of the truck. She wore a sleek, black dress with red pumps. A man appeared wearing nice, red dress pants and a black button up, matching the color scheme of the person who they assumed was his wife.

Two younger kids, who were obviously twins and looked to be around six, ran around the yard. The girl wore a red dress while the boy wore the same thing as his father. The woman with the curls sternly put a finger up and the two kids stopped, walking over to the front porch and sitting down, but eventually moving when a guy with hair down to his shoulders appeared carrying a brown moving box.

He looked over to the window and while Ashley, Aria, Emily, Ali, and Spencer dunked down to the floor, Hanna stood still, fixated on him. They made eye contact and neither dared to change their facial expressions or move.

Hanna did, in fact, notice that he did not look like the others at all. For starters, his hair was dark when the father had blonde hair, the mother had red, and the two smaller kids had strawberry blonde.

He wasn't dressed like them in the red and black color scheme, but was instead wearing a gray flannel that was unbuttoned with a white tee underneath along with a pair of regular jeans.

They continued to make eye contact until the man said something and he was knocked out of his trance, nodding, taking one more look at Hanna, and heading into the house.

"Why didn't you get down? Did he see you looking?" Ali asked as all of them stood back up.

Hanna turned to her mother and friends. "He didn't see me or any of you guys. He went straight inside."

She didn't want to lie to the most important people in her life and she didn't know why she didn't just tell them the truth considering it wasn't anything serious, but Hanna felt as though what just happened was a moment she was meant to keep to herself.

"I will find out the drama on this in a few hours, girls," Ashley said as she moved the dishes from the sink into the dishwasher. "I'm meeting with some of the women from the church for dinner. Most of them live on this street. I'm sure they'll know."

"Is my mom going to be there?" Aria asked.

Ashley thought for a minute. "No, I don't think so. She was supposed to but she cancelled last night. Said something about how she was too bombarded with papers to grade."

Aria furrowed her brow. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again. "Yeah, that's right. She told me. Duh! Umm, thanks again for having me over, Ashley, but I've gotta get going."

"You usually stay longer. Is everything okay?" Ashley asked concerned.

"Yeah! I just have to get home. I completely forgot that Mike wanted me to help him write this essay he has due. Yeah, goodbye, guys."

Aria slipped out of the side door without a word.

She had been doing that a lot recently. When Aria would find out her mom wasn't where she thought she was, she'd get all weird and leave hastily without really acknowledging anyone.

None of the girls would ever bring it up to her though simply for the fact that everyone is entitled to have their own secrets especially when it comes to family.

Hanna snuck another look out the window as her mom disappeared into the living room and her friends headed back outside to enjoy the rest of their Sunday afternoon.

The guy wasn't there, but she was then looking into the eyes of the woman wearing the black dress. She threw a piece of her long hair behind her shoulder and forced the smallest smile Hanna had ever seen in her life.

Hanna awkwardly smiled before averting her eyes towards the floor and deciding to pick up her feet and walk back out the door.

"-shoes are fantastic," Ali said as Hanna shut the glass door.

"What?"

"Oh," Ali said, "I was just admiring that lady's killer fashion sense. Those shoes are impeccable. I don't know how she hasn't fallen or sunk into the grass by now."

Hanna propped her feet up on the chair again and moved her sunglasses down to her eyes again. It was around two P.M. and hotter than it had been all day.

"She looks a little stuck up," Spencer commented honestly. "Rosewood is a nice town, but no one dresses like that here. She just has a face that screams hateful."

"I agree," Emily said, "but Ali's right- those shoes are amazing."

"I got the gossip," said Ashley as she entered her daughter's room later that night.

Hanna looked up from the nail she was painting a light blue color. She had finished her homework, taken a shower, hung up laundry, ate dinner, and was just about ready for bed at the ripe hour of ten.

"What do you mean by the gossip?" She asked as she ran another coat over her ring finger nail.

Ashley pulled her hair down from the tight bun it was in that she had worn out to dinner and positioned herself beside of Hanna on the bed. "About our neighbors."

"Mom," Hanna groaned, "you've got to lay off the neighborhood gossip."

"Hush, Hanna. You'll never admit it, but you love the scandals of Rosewood just as much as me."

"Mmm, sure," Hanna said sarcastically. "What's the verdict?"

Ashley ran a hand through her hair before starting to talk. "Harold's new job started earlier than expected so they went ahead and sped up the buy. The Clines have been gone since this morning."

"Okay. And?"

"It's a five person family with the two youngest kids being the only biological kids while the oldest one with the long hair is a foster kid they took in about two weeks ago. He was born in Ravenswood and has spent his entire life going back and forth between foster families in Ravenswood and Montecito."

"Montecito? As in California?"

"No, Hanna. Montecito down in Mississippi, yes California."

"No need to get sassy," Hanna murmured. "Who knew all of this information?"

"Jessica DiLaurentis knows everyone's dirt in this town," Ashley said as she stretched back onto the bed.

Hanna sighed. "You sharing gossip with Ms. DiLaurentis doesn't exactly put a good reputation on you as the preacher's wife. She isn't exactly a good woman either."

"Oh please." Ashley rolled her eyes. "Our squad is tight. We would never discuss the drama outside of the group. Plus, everyone in town knows of Jessica's rocky divorce with Kenneth. It's not a secret."

"Did you just say your squad is tight?" Hanna cringed.

"Well, yeah. Isn't that what kids today say?" Ashley asked as she stood up.

"I don't know what year you think we're in but no one has said that since middle school."

"Whatever. You just wish you could be cool like your mom." Ashley made her way to the other side of the bed and planted a kiss on her daughter's head. "Goodnight, Han. Don't forget your devotions tonight."

"I never do," Hanna responded. "Goodnight, Mom."

Ashley smiled and left the room, shutting it softly as Tom was already asleep in their shared room down the hall.

Hanna shook her head with a small laugh at her mother's antics and finished painting her pinky finger before closing the tube of nail polish and putting it in a drawer in her vanity.

She threw her blonde hair up into a bun as she turned off the lights, only to turn the lamp next to her bed on.

With her book of daily devotions in her hand, she flipped to the page the bookmark was on and found which day she had left off on.

Hanna read devotions every night from a book of them that her dad, himself, had written and published. It was one of Hanna's favorite pastimes and she could spend all night reading them because of the assurance they always gave her in any life situation.

As Hanna neared the end of her devotion, something sharp hit her bedroom window. Hanna dismissed it at first, thinking she was hearings things.

But, Hanna was proved wrong as her bedroom window started to creak as if someone were opening it from the other side.

Trembling with fear, Hanna tossed her book to the side and stood up, grabbing a can of hairspray sitting on her vanity. She moved slowly to the window and immediately started spraying as soon as someone appeared from the curtain.

She continued to spray. "Get out! Get out! Intruder in-"

"Are you serious? Hairspray?"

Hanna stopped spraying for a second to see the boy from the yard earlier. He was wearing the same thing and was rubbing his eyes furiously.

"What are you- who even are you?"

"Help me get this junk out of my eyes and I will answer your questions."


	2. chapter i

**_And thank you for all your reviews; it warmed my heart! :) i planned on releasing this chapter last night, but i had a project due in one of my classes and got too caught up._**

 ** _i do not own pretty little liars or any of the characters._**

 ** _please overlook, any spelling errors as i have not spellchecked yet. this glitched and started adding random letters to random parts of the chapter. it's late and i will go fix it first chance i get so if you see that kindly skip over. xx_**

 ** _chapter i ; 4,960 words_**

"Could you not jam my eye? I'm going to need that in the near future."

Hanna sat across from the boy with the long hair that had moved in next door. She held a wet tissue to his eye, trying to help soothe her hairspray attack.

She still had yet to find out why he came into her room, what his name was, and many more questions she still wanted answers to. Also, she was questioning why she never felt the need to lock her window.

Now Hanna would always lock it.

"You need to keep it down," Hanna said, "my mom is downstairs in the shower, but my dad is right down the hall asleep, and let me be the one to tell you he is a very light sleeper."

The guy pulled a shocked face. "Oh wow! What a shame it would be to wake daddy up."

Hanna shoved the tissue into his hand and glared. "You can do it yourself."

"Caleb."

"What?"

"You hesitated at the end like you were going to say my name. It's Caleb."

Hanna stood up from her bed and shuffled from one door to another. She closed her bedroom door which was something she didn't do often as her mom had a tendency to walk in as she pleased so Hanna didn't see the need to shut the door.

"I don't care about your name. Can you please explain what you're doing here and why you broke into my house."

Caleb held up a finger. "I did not break into your house. I climbed into your bedroom."

"You broke into my house!"

"Did not."

"Yes you did!"

"I absolutely have no memory of it."

Hanna closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, breathing deeply. She turned to a smirking Caleb. All she wanted to do was punch it off of his face and Hanna was certainly not a violent person.

"Am I stressing you out?"

"No, not at all," Hanna managed through her gritted teeth. "Can you just tell me what you're doing?"

Caleb kicked his shoes off and leaned back onto Hanna's bed with his head hitting the pillow. "My folks are terrible. I hate it over there. It was either this place or the one across from here and the woman over there looks sixty and dresses like she's twenty."

"That is one of best friends' mom I will have you know," Hanna said with a sneer.

Caleb made an amused sound. "Hmpf, I'd hate to see what her daughter looks like then if she looks like that."

Hanna smacked his arm and then proceeded to push his legs off of the bed, forcing him to stand up on his own. "Hey! What was that for?"

"The smack was for not only insulting my one of my best friends that you don't even know, but also for insulting her mom as well. Pushing your legs off the bed is a code for get out because I think I just heard a door shut downstairs."

Hanna's assumptions were correct as she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Her eyes shot open frantically and she pleaded for Caleb to get out. However, it was too late for him to get out through the window.

"Get in the bed and pull the blanket over your head. Now!" She hopped into her usual side of the bed and turned the lamp off just as Caleb pulled the blanket over his head and the door opened.

Ashley stood there with her pajamas on and a towel around her head. She frowned at Hanna. "Why'd you shut your door? You never shut your door."

Hanna raised up and a faked a yawn, rubbing pretend sleep out of her eyes. "I was catching the end of this movie I watched a few weeks ago after I read my devotions. I didn't want to wake Dad up."

"That's sweet of you, Han. Get to bed, you're up way too late."

With that, Ashley pushed the door open and walked down the hallway into the other bathroom. When the door shut, Hanna sat up.

"You can push that off now."

Caleb appeared from under the blankets. He started to laugh.

If Hanna wasn't irritated before, she was definitely irritated now. "What could you possibly be laughing at now?"

"You'll learn one day, Hanna, that's it best to laugh rather than scrunch up that forehead. It'll cause wrinkles."

"How do you know my name? Have you been stalking me? It honestly wouldn't surprise me if you have been."

Caleb threw an arm around Hanna. "Your mom called you Han. I'm going to assume that's short for Hanna. Now," he hopped off the bed, "I'm going to head back over before they find out I'm gone. Have a nice night, Hanna, but not too nice because I won't be here."

Before Hanna could say anything else or get another eye roll in, Caleb was hopping out of the window again and swinging onto a sturdy tree branch like Tarzan. Hanna didn't know if he made it into his bedroom or not and she didn't really care.

Hanna got up to close her window, actually lock it, and draw the curtains. She climbed back into bed, suddenly feeling wide awake and wanting to know more about her new neighbor that she could tell screamed a lot of trouble.

-LINE BREAK-

It was the following Sunday, an exact week after the incident with Caleb, and Hanna had never been more stressed and agitated than she had in her entire life.

Just to her luck, Caleb was the new student at Rosewood High School. To make things even better, he was in a class of hers and sat right behind her. Wasn't she just a lucky girl.

Caleb managed to make every single day for the entire week pure and utter terror.

On Monday, he got the big idea to sit down with her friends and her at lunch. He charmed them all, except Spencer who said he looked like he robbed supermarkets in the night, and they all talked about what a nice guy he was and they hoped to see him some more. He didn't bother her anymore after that.

Hanna was dumb enough to think maybe he did only want to make friends and not turn her life upside down. Boy, was she wrong.

Tuesday morning before she left her house, Caleb had managed to bump into the back of her car while pulling into the school. He apologized, but laughed nonetheless.

It only got worse on Wednesday when he convinced Mrs. Williams, their English and only shared teacher, to let him move behind Hanna because they were "such good friends and neighbors" and of course, Mrs. Williams smiled and nodded. He constantly kicked the back of her seat and even got her in trouble a few times for turning around to tell him to stop.

Thursday was when he ran into her that morning and spilled his hot, black coffee all over her white blouse and yellow skirt. He didn't even apologize and only told her to watch where she was going before he disappeared down the halls.

Hanna thought God was listening to her prayers of getting away from him when she had seen no signs of him all Friday morning. She happily ate her salad as she listened to Ali talk about her piano lesson the night before.

"I think I'm going to be ready to play this Sunday," Ali said as she finished her story.

Alison had started taking piano lessons a while ago, hoping to learn fast enough so she could play in church instead of singing like the rest of the girls. She felt as though it would also give her something to do after the kidnapping had happened.

Aria smiled. "That's great, Ali! Are we all singing Hallelujah on Sunday?"

Hanna nodded, swallowing a mouthful. "Yeah, if that's what you all want, I'm down for it. Be there at the usual time for sound check. Oh, and Ali, let my dad know you're playing instead."

No one could say anything else before Toby Cavanaugh came over. "Hey! Have you all met my newfound buddy Caleb?"

Caleb appeared from behind Toby clutching the straps of his backpack. He shot all the girls a smile before his eyes landed on Hanna. The smile grew into a short smirk before they released eye contact.

Hanna angrily dug her fork into a piece of lettuce, crossed her arms, and focused on the table. He was truly everywhere.

"He sat with us on Monday or Tuesday. How are you, Caleb?" Emily said with a smile.

Caleb returned the smile. "I'm just fine, Emily, is it? How are you?"

"I'm good, thank you for asking."

Toby sat beside of Spencer, dragging Caleb down with him. "So, will I be seeing all of you at church as usual?"

"You sure will," Aria said. "Do you go to church, Caleb?"

"Church? There's a church in this town? Rosewood is so small that I'm surprised there's something here other than McDonald's," he laughed.

"Yeah," Toby said, "Hanna's dad actually owns it and is the pastor."

Thanks, Toby.

"Oh is he?" Caleb questioned innocently, leaning against his elbows on the table. "Is that why he sleeps so early?"

Hanna gritted her teeth and gave Caleb a warning look with her eyes. "Yep. He plays a big role in this community. Has to have some beauty sleep."

"How do you know that Pastor Marin goes to bed early?" Ali questioned.

Caleb smiled. "Hanna and I are neighbors so that means we obviously have to chat on occasion."

The rest nodded, understanding, but Hanna and Caleb were the only two who knew what the meaning behind that saying was.

Toby cleared his throat. "So, man, we going to be seeing you Sunday?"

"I doubt it. Church isn't really my thing," Caleb said nonchalantly with a shrug.

Spencer frowned. "Why is that?"

Caleb sighed. "I don't know. It's just not really my scene. Can we talk about something else?"

Flashback to current time, Hanna sat at her vanity with a brush in hand, combing through her recently curled locks. Her makeup was minimal as Ashley refused to let her wear anything other than light foundation and powder, blush, mascara, and lipgloss. Sometimes she'd let her wear a nude or pink lipstick, but that was it.

The sun seeped through the window that Caleb had crawled through as she looked at herself in the mirror one last time before standing up and straightening out her dress.

Hanna wore a simple long-sleeved red dress with a thick black belt around her stomach and matched it with a pair of wedges. It was common tradition to wear white at church, but Hanna always changed it up and showed in a new dress almost every Sunday.

She put her real diamond studs, a gift from her dad after her baptism last year, in her ears and walked out of her bedroom door, not bothering to shut it.

When she reach the kitchen where her mom and dad were standing, Ashley smiled while was Tom talking on the phone to a guy about painting the church next week.

"Guess what I did," Ashley said proudly.

Hanna raised her eyebrows questioningly. With her mother, it was hard to tell what she had done.

"I invited our new neighbors to join us at church today and every other Sunday. I also invited them back here for lunch right after!"

Hanna felt her heart drop. "Why did you do that?"

"Why're you so upset over it?"

She had to think of a reason. "I always have lunch here with the girls after church. I'm not giving that up. It will be the first time we've cancelled in years."

Ashley rolled her eyes. "You sound like a drama queen, Hanna. You were not raised like that and the Lord would not approve. Act your age. You can miss one hangout with your friends. Besides, it's not technically lunch. The five of you drink lemonade and eat cookies. I would hardly call that lunch."

Hanna huffed as Tom hung up the phone. He turned to Hanna and smiled. "You look lovely. Are you and the girls singing today for opening? Alison came by this morning to let me know she was going to be playing piano, but said nothing about you other four."

"I reckon we are. We decided on Hallelujah. Ali's going to play on it piano for us."

"Sounds great! Are you ready to go?"

The only thing about being the preacher's daughter that Hanna didn't like was the fact they had to get to the church an hour early at ten just to set up.

As they all sat in the car, Hanna was fixated on her cellphone. It was the one thing of privacy that Hanna did have. Her laptop was monitored, even though she really only used it for school assignments and research, and her TV choices were limited.

Ashley and Tom didn't look through Hanna's phone because they trusted her enough to not make stupid decisions on it. They would only look through it if Hanna had given them a reason to, which she never had.

The church was only about a ten minute drive from the neighborhood. It was a simple white church with a cross beside the sign that read Rosewood Church of Christ.

Hanna had grown up in the church. Her entire life was filled with bibles, talks about God with her dad, and prayers. She had always been told to believe in God and good things will happen.

Life had never screwed her over and she credited it to religious lifestyle. There was no drama, boyfriends, or two-faced people. She never faced any serious problems and planned to keep it that way.

Her feet hit the pavement and her wedges made a comforting sound as she followed her parents over to the front door. Tom put the keys in the door and everyone went inside.

Hanna followed them inside and decided to sit down in one of pews in the main back. As Hanna had just closed her eyes to rest for a minute, she heard the sound of the door to the church opening again.

She opened her eyes to find Emily, Aria, Spencer, and Ali standing above her. Ali parted from the girls to the grand piano on stage, obviously going to practice by herself before she practiced with the rest of the girls.

"Soundcheck ready? People are going to start rolling here in about thirty minute," Aria yawned. "I've always hated that church is always so early."

"You're telling me," Hanna said, standing up. "I've always tried to convince him to have night service instead. He refuses. Says that morning service gets you up and at it."

"Dad!" Hanna called, "we're ready for soundcheck."

Hanna heard her dad reply as the girls worked on moving the microphones and stand out front from the back and plugging them in. Ali played her piano and paid no attention to her friends.

"Ready?" Tom called from the sound section in the back.

Hanna have a thumbs up before Aria started out lead as the only one of the girls who could sing really well.

"Well I heard there was a secret chord, that David played and pleased the Lord."

Hanna really enjoyed listening to Aria sing. She loved it enough to maybe take a career in it, but Aria also knew she could do more things with an education better than music.

After soundcheck, Tom and Ashley complimented all the girls on their singing and Ali's piano piece. They hopped off the stage, not bothering to move the microphones and unplug them considering they'd be singing again here in a while.

"Thank you, Aria, for making us sound good," Spencer joked as they were seated in the first pew.

Aria laughed. "It was not me."

"Umm, yes it was. We just harmonized and served as backgrounds to you. You're amazing."

"Well, thanks."

"Guys, you'll never believe what my mom did this morning," Hanna said, leaning up towards the girls from her seat on the end. "She invited Caleb and his family."

"I thought Caleb said church wasn't really his scene? Besides that, what's so bad about that? I like Caleb. He seems like an alright kind of guy," Aria said with a shrug.

Spencer shot Aria a face. "Alright kind of guy? He could pass as a serial killer."

"So could Toby," Ali shot back.

"Well-"

"Okay, stop fighting," Hanna interrupted, "because I don't know if they're coming or not and if they do come, I need to get out of here."

"Why?" Emily questioned.

Hanna shook her head. "It's complicated."

"How is it complicated?"

"It just is, okay?"

"How?"

"Emily, I am going to smack you if you don't hush," Hanna huffed.

"Well," Spencer intervened, "we're in a church. You shouldn't show violence in here. Take it outside, ladies."

Hanna leaned back into her seat. "You guys are no help."

"I am pretty good help if you give me a valid reason to help. You have granted me with nothing," Emily said.

The girls fell silent before Hanna remembered. "In addition to inviting them to church, she invited them over for lunch after so I'm afraid you guys can't come over today."

"I carpooled with Ali so it's no biggie." Emily shrugged.

"Mine and Spencer's moms dropped both of us off and are coming back for service. We'll be fine," Aria said.

Hanna really considered herself a good person. She truly did.

But, when Caleb stepped into the buzzing church at exactly ten forty-seven with his foster parents and siblings wearing dress pants and a dark blue button up, Hanna did not consider herself a good person when all she wanted to do was kick him out.

She felt someone grab her arm and turned to find Ashley dragging her somewhere. "What are you doing?"

"We are going to go converse with the neighbors."

"You don't even know their names?"

"I'm about to find out."

Hanna found herself standing in front of the family alongside Tom and Ashley. She fixated her eyes on the redhead's shoes to keep from having to make eye contact with Caleb.

"You must be the Marins," the woman said. "It's a pleasure. Thank you for inviting us both to the service and lunch. My name is Jess Hathaway and this is husband, Paul, our twins, Beth and Bane. On the end is our foster son Caleb."

Jess had a deep, flirty voice that you only hear from mean girls in movies. She's probably attracted a lot of guys if she talks to everyone the way she just talked.

She wore a white dress today with pink pumps. Once again, Paul wore black slacks, a white button up that was tucked in, and a pink bowtie while the twins wore matching outfits as their parents. Caleb was still not matching with them.

"I'm Ashley Marin and this is my husband, Tom, and our daughter, Hanna." Ashley slightly nudged Hanna to hold her hand out and shake hands.

Jess looked Hanna up and down with a frown that was so small it was barely noticeable. "You must go to school with Caleb I presume?"

"Yeah."

Jess made a sound that Hanna couldn't quit comprehend. "Well, I suppose you do. I guess we better take our seats."

"I don't like her," Hanna stated as soon as Jess was out earshot. "She's really rude. Did you see her looking me up and down? I don't want her in our house."

Ashley narrowed her eyes. "She was not looking you up and down. Get off your high horse and go take a seat."

Hanna stomped off and walked back to the front pew where her friends were still sitting. She didn't say a word and only sat down as her dad came onto the stage, saying a few words and starting off the prayer.

Hanna linked hands with Emily who sat to the left of her and Spencer who sat to the right. She lightly closed her eyes, saying a small prayer to herself before her dad finished. "Amen."

"Now we're going to hear a song of faith from my beautiful daughter, Hanna, and her friends Emily, Aria, and Spencer with Alison on piano. God bless." Tom stepped off the stage and allowed the girls to take over.

Hanna didn't get nervous in front of crowds. She had sung in church enough times by now to know that even if you did terrible, everyone would smile and clap as if you were good enough to win an award such as a Grammy.

They got into place once more. The sound of Ali's hands hitting the keys on the piano struck out a lovely melody as Aria opened her mouth, singing the song they had only rehearsed just a short hour and a half ago.

"Well I heard there was a secret chord, that David played and pleased the Lord,

"But you don't really care for music do you?

"Well it goes like this: the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift.

"The baffling king composing Hallelujah."

Hanna joined in with the other girls into the chorus. They repeated the title of the song over and over in harmony. Hanna's eyes darted around the room to find Caleb looking very bored. She'd have to talk to him after and find out why he was here exactly.

After the song was over, everyone applauded the girls and they did a slight bow before returning to their seats. Hanna shot Caleb a look that she hoped he could read. It was saying to come through the bedroom tonight.

The service was the same as usual. They ended with a prayer after hearing a few more songs, prayer requests, and her Tom's preaching.

"Good luck at your lunch," Aria laughed as Hanna groaned.

"Don't remind me."

"We'll see you tomorrow. Bye, Han," Emily said as Ali waved.

The girls parted their ways except for Hanna who stayed back, waiting for her parents to stop talking, everyone to leave, and her dad to lock up the church.

Hanna looked beside her to find Jess standing there. She gave a tight smile, not quite sure what to do.

"Hello, Hanna," Jess said in her sultry voice.

"Hi."

"Nice job on singing. Even though your brown headed friend did most of the work," she said nonchalantly.

Hanna didn't skip a beat though or let it get to her.

"Nice job on not hiding your judgements. I totally couldn't tell you were judging me up and down. Maybe I could give you some lessons sometimes since you're never doing any work in general."

Jess's mouth dropped and she went to throw a remark before Ashley stepped in.

"Hanna, you can go ahead and get in the car. We won't be too much longer. Hello, Jess," Ashley said with a sincere smile.

"Bye, Jess," Hanna said with a sickly sweet smile before turning on her heel and not looking behind her shoulder to see what was unfolding behind her.

-LINE BREAK-

"Is this really necessary, Mom?"

Hanna stood in front of the patio table they had in the backyard. It was decorated lavishly in a nice table cloth, sandwiches, lemonade, and salad.

Ashley rolled her eyes. "They're nice, Hanna, and they seem wealthy meaning we need to make a good impression and show we're wealthy as well."

"Dad is a preacher and you work at a bank. I don't exactly see how that makes us wealthy."

"It pays the bills, okay? Now, just tell me. Do I look okay?"

Ashley had changed out of her church dress into a summery sundress and flats. "Does it scream housewife?"

"You are not a housewife. Mom, you're over-"

Before Hanna could finish her sentence, the back door opened to which Hanna looked to find her dad leading in Jess, Paul, and Caleb. The twins were nowhere in sight.

"I was just telling Paul about how I left twins with the sitter. They're cranky and a mess during the day. They would ruin lunch," Jess ranted, adding in a very extra eye roll.

"Who says their own children would ruin lunch? That's really rude actually," Hanna said innocently.

She locked eyes with Caleb who held a glint in his eye.

"Hanna! Mind your manners," Tom scolded.

"I don't know what has gotten into you lately, but this will certainly be the last time if she wants to continue things the way they are," Ashley said harshly.

Fighting back on saying something, Hanna plopped down into one of the patio seats at the table and grabbed a sandwich. "Can we just get this thing started?"

Ashley threw her daughter a look. "I apologize for her behavior."

"It's no worries. Caleb is the exact same way. I was shocked we got him into church this morning," Jess commented as she sat down beside of Caleb who was in front of Hanna.

"I'm sitting right here, you know. You're talking about me like I'm not even here."

"Why were you shocked he came to church?" Tom asked curiously.

Jess sighed. "It's complicated."

"It's not complicated," Caleb mocked, "I am not a Christian and I won't pretend to be one. God has never done anything for me. If he wanted to do something, he would've answered my supposed prayers when I was six and got me out of this mess."

"Caleb-"

"No. I refuse to talk about my beliefs. Drop it," Caleb said angrily.

Hanna could see this wouldn't be leading anywhere good.

"If you would just come down to the church, we could have one on one time. You can listen and believe in the scripture and word of Christ. We can save you before any more damage is-"

"Are you trying to tell me you're going to get me sent to heaven instead of hell?

I don't know much about bible and spiritual stuff, but I know for a fact that saying a little wish to God and listening to you is not going to help me. I will not sit here and listen to everyone bash about my beliefs."

The table fell into silence as Hanna darted her eyes around. Part of her agreed with Caleb and was happy that he spoke his opinion, but the other part of her disagreed and wished he would at least try to take advice from her dad.

"Caleb, apologize for your behavior. I am so sorry, Tom and Ashley, he usually doesn't act like this around others," Jess apologized frantically.

"It's no big deal," Ashley said with a tense smile. "Can't make him believe what we want him to believe."

-LINE BREAK-

"See why I escaped?" Caleb asked as he climbed into Hanna's room that night.

After the awkwardly silent lunch, the Hathaways and Caleb left only about fifteen minutes later, the tenseness in the room getting to them.

"I can see," Hanna replied, "your mom is a real pain. I can tell she doesn't like me."

Caleb scoffed. "She doesn't like anyone except herself. Don't call her my mom. That's a lady I live with. My mom gave me up."

Caleb pulled out a cigarette from his jacket pocket along with a lighter. He put it in his mouth and next thing Hanna knew she was smacking it out of his hand.

"Hey! Why'd you do that!"

"You can't smoke in here. I'm risking it by staying up late and letting you in. The least you can do is respect me and do that outside. Where'd you even get that?"

"I'm eighteen," he said matter-of-factly. "And no, I'm not addicted. I only do it when I'm stressed which is about once a month."

"That's what they all say."

"Can I sit in the tree and do it then?"

"Sure, whatever. It's getting late anyway," Hanna replied as she looked at the clock, realizing it was almost midnight. Her door was shut and locked just in case her mom or dad woke up during the night while Caleb was still in her room.

"You're coming with me."

"No, I am not Tarzan and I am not jumping into trees with you."

Caleb rolled his eyes. "Loosen up, princess."

He grabbed her hand and was yanking her to the window. Caleb let go and shimmied his way into the tree. There was a branch big enough to fit two people.

Hanna took a deep breath and slipped out of the window, grabbing Caleb's outstretched hand and safely making it onto the branch. "Are you sure this is safe?"

"I've done it about twice. Yeah, I'm pretty positive."

She watched as he took a drag of his cigarette. Hanna wondered why he even liked that nasty stuff.

"Want some?"

Hanna scrunched her face up. "No thank you. Why do you even need me out here?"

"The teenage rebel as the preacher's daughter? It's the start of a friendship, Hanna Marin. I'm just getting to know you."


End file.
